Local campuses focus on security

Recent school violence forced the discussion of safety and security of young people into the national spotlight, but on campuses in the Upstate, officials said it is a daily focus.

By FELICIA KITZMILLERfelicia.kitzmiller@shj.com

Recent school violence forced the discussion of safety and security of young people into the national spotlight, but on campuses in the Upstate, officials said it is a daily focus.The December shooting of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., ripped open a wound inflicted in the April 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Columbine, Colo., that killed 12 students and injured more than 20.For higher education institutions, their awakening was the April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., where 32 people were killed and 17 wounded. Shots fired at Lone Star College in Houston injured three earlier this month. Coming on the heels of the Newtown tragedy, the event captured national headlines."The conversation is broader than just campus safety," said Converse College Vice President for Student Life Molly Duesterhaus. "There's this notion of awareness. Just because you live on a college campus or in a college community, we are part of a larger world where there is violence and tragedy."After the Virginia Tech shooting, local colleges started making security upgrades. Some are still in progress, while others are just being completed. At Spartanburg Community College, they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade emergency response, said director of campus operations Ray Switzer. Switzer said SCC safety officials made a checklist from the studies and reports following the Virginia Tech shooting. What did those security officers have that helped them? What did they not have that could have helped?The result at SCC was a new radio system, emergency phones that double as one-way intercoms in every classroom and lab, and outdoor loudspeakers for the Spartanburg and Cherokee campuses. All of the upgrades were completed in the last year."It was a lengthy process of exploring software. That was an expensive and time-consuming process, and of course we didn't have a budget for that," Switzer said.At University of South Carolina Upstate, an emergency notification system called Spart Alert was developed that allows security personnel to contact students and employees quickly."Within minutes, we are able to contact students, faculty and staff via cellphone, text message, email and campus phones if there's an emergency," Public Safety Chief Klay Peterson said.Wofford College has a similar emergency notification system.USC Upstate also is working to install access control devices that would allow campus security to remotely lock down a building in the event of an emergency, including a shooter situation. The technology is expensive, and the school is on pace to install it in one building each year, Peterson said. Individual classroom doors are also being fitted with mechanisms that lock from inside so no one can get into the room, he added.College campuses are difficult to secure because they are relatively open to the public, security officials said. The schools often have little to no control of development on their perimeter that could affect campus operations.For that reason, officials said the key is being prepared, vigilant and proactive.On page 24 of the SCC Safety Information packet are detailed instructions for what faculty, staff and students should do in the event of a plane or helicopter crash on campus. Why? Because there's an emergency helicopter launch pad a few hundred yards from campus."I have plans for everything I could possibly think of that could happen at this college," SCC Police Chief Andre Kerr said.His plan also includes chemical spills, biological hazards, bomb threats, violence and elevator malfunctions among many other potentially dangerous events.USC Upstate is protected by a Public Safety Department that includes 36 employees, including 15 full-time and two part-time sworn state constables. While they sometimes have to deal with violent and serious crime, Peterson said his officers spend a lot of time on patrol around campus. Security personnel said they depend on relationships with students and employees to keep them informed about anything suspicious.Security officers said they focus on details, such as trimmed landscaping and good lighting, to discourage violent acts, and they train endlessly.At Converse College, in addition to having armed security, particular first-responder training is given to live-in staff members who tend to be the first people on scene in any kind of emergency, Duesterhaus said. USC Upstate also offers violence and crisis management training to staff members. No matter how fast security responds, there's almost always someone else there first, Peterson said.Last fall, Wofford College police officers conducted active-shooter tactical training in campus buildings, spokeswoman Laura Corbin said.Peterson said he also participates, along with academic and residents' life personnel in a monthly meeting called the behavioral intervention team. Members discuss students displaying warning signs of trouble, including a sudden drop in grades or change in behavior or some trauma in their life. Then they coordinate an appropriate response."One of the most important parts of campus security is identifying situations before they become problems," Peterson said.